October 16 @ 7pm and October 17 @ 12pm (US Eastern Time): Leading Lives of Purpose: The science of determining your work and calling for a lifetime
ESN and American Scientific Affiliation team up once again to bring you an interactive event on the science behind discerning your calling, wherever you are in your career. Event will be held twice in one weekend, so you can choose the time that is best for you.
September 15, 1 pm (US Eastern Time): 
Elaine Howard Ecklund, Why Science and Faith Need Each Other
One area where Christians can be peacemakers is in building good conversations that bridge between communities of faith and communities of science. Drawing on her experience interviewing over 40,000 scientists and religious believers, Dr. Ecklund will help us understand how shared values and virtues can help us connect.
September 24, 3 pm (US Eastern Time): Warren Brown and Brad Strawn, Enhancing Christian Life (on extended cognition)
I don’t know about you, but in this time of pandemic I had to reimagine a number of spiritual disciplines, from participating in my local church service to daily rhythms of connecting with God. Warren and Brad will share insights from neuroscience, psychology and philosophy that can help us deepen our spiritual growth and our connection to community in this moment.
October 15, Noon (US Eastern Time): Justin Giboney, Compassion and Conviction (on the “And” campaign and civic engagement)
In a complex and stressful election year, are you longing for a bigger vision of what it means to live out faithful civic engagement as a believer? Justin Giboney will help us imagine faithful political and civic engagement as the Body of Christ.
November 10, 1 pm (US Eastern Time), Michael Card, The Nazarene: Forty Devotions on the Lyrical Life of Jesus
Musician and author Michael Card will talk with us about his most recent book, devotionals on the life of Christ. If you’re looking for devotional reading for the season of Thanksgiving and Advent, this is a great opportunity to meditate on the life of Christ in community.
Other Ways to Connect
If you’re looking for a weekly resource to help you and/or a local group grow in faith, check out our weekly readings for this semester. We designed the list in units so that you can tailor it to the length of time that suits your semester, and we curated optional spiritual formation activities to weave into the readings. Feel free to share what you’re learning at the ESN Facebook group or in our field area networking groups (you can ask to join from our main Facebook page). May God bless your work and your rest in this semester.
Hannah, ESN Associate Director
Timing Note: We typically run ESN webinars from 12-1pm in the time zone of the featured speaker; for consistency times are given here in US Eastern Time.
The Dead Theologians book discussion group restarts
Wednesday, September 2nd at 7:45am on Zoom. We will read James Baldwin’s Go Tell It on the Mountain this semester. We will start with an overview of James Baldwin’s life. The discussion is planned to last an hour. Anyone interested in joining us email Paul Post for the Zoom link.
 We will host a new discussion group on this insightful book starting Thursday, Sept.10 at noon. It will be a 45 minute discussion. Complete the form below to request you have time to read the preface & first chapter. (Just 10 pages). We will also send you a Zoom invitation link to the email address you provide. We can accommodate the first 12 people.
Questions about the book or group should be directed via email to Asst. Professor Paul Post. N.T. Wright summarizes 200 years of modern Biblical scholarship and models how Christians can best retell the story of Jesus today. In a style similar to C.S. Lewis’s popular works, Wright breaks down the barriers that prevent Christians from fully engaging with the story of Jesus. For believers confronting the challenge of connecting with their faith today, and for readers of Timothy Keller’s The Reason for God, Wright’s Simply Jesus offers a provocative new picture of how to understand who Jesus was and how Christians should relate to him today. Feel free to invite colleagues who would be interested. |
RSVP Form
You are invited to the first Veritas Forum 
faculty on Tuesday, May 26 from 7:00-8:00 pm ET, hosted by InterVarsity’s Faculty Ministries.
The Lost Art of Dying — a conversation with Dr. Lydia Dugdale, a faculty physician and ethicist at Columbia Medical School who’s been on the front lines caring for COVID-19 patients in NYC.
Shortly after colleges and universities shut down in March, David Brooks wrote in the NYTimes that this season is a time to ask 3 important questions:
This forum will provide space for faculty to hear wisdom from Dr. Dugdale, who has dedicated her career to these questions, and to enter into discussion to explore these important questions together.
To attend, please register here. Faculty who share survey feedback after the forum will receive a free copy of Lydia’s forthcoming book The Lost Art of Dying: Reviving Forgotten Wisdom (July 2020). (limit 60).
We welcome you to invite faculty colleagues to attend this virtual faculty forum. We hope you can join us on May 26th!
“Faith, says Wright, it’s like a window. The 
point is not for part of the wall to be made of glass. A window is there because we want to see through it – and let light into the room! Faith allows us to see our situation and our weakness in light of God who is powerful, holy and loving.”
We will host a new discussion group on this insightful book starting Thursday, May 14th at noon. It will be a 45 minute discussion. Complete the form below to request your free copy in time to read the first chapter. (Pages 15-23). We will also send you a Zoom invitation link to the email address you provide. We can accommodate the first 12 people.
Questions should be directed to Professor Paul Post at his email address: post.1@osu.edu
From Bob Trube:
When the ESN Conversation with Jonathan Dodson about his book Our Good Crisis before the Covid-19 virus became a global pandemic and most of our country went on lockdown. Little did I realize how 
relevant his discussion of the Beatitude virtues would be in a time where our moral virtues are under a trial of duress—whether from being cooped up with family, pressures of a changed work environment, facing financial challenges, or anxieties connected with the illness.
This important conversation, will be occurring on April 17 at 1 pm Eastern Daylight Time. For security reasons, we invite you to request a web link for the webinar. We will also send you a discount code for Jonathan Dodson’s book. RSVP to Bob Trube to register.
David Brooks wrote in a recent New York Times column:
“I’m reminded that this is a time to practice aggressive friendship with each other — to be the one who seeks out the lonely and the troubled. It’s also true that character is formed in times like this. People see deeper into themselves, bravely learn what their pain is teaching them, and become wiser and softer as a result.”
I hope you will join us this Friday to consider how your character might be formed in this time.
three virtual sessions on Coronavirus & Quarantine with a variety of panelists addressing important questions“Because of the gratuity and extravagance of Christ’s tears, we can today know that Christ’s tears are with us today.”
Mako Fujimura
Veritas Forum is pleased to share the recordings of all three virtual forums in this series:
Wishing you much joy in this season of resurrection and new life,
The Veritas Forum Team
A 90 minute Webinar for Christian Faculty and Graduate Students
February 1, 2019, 9:30-11:30am (9am for coffee, snacks, and conversation at our OSU campus site)
On Saturday, February 1 we will host a webinar for faculty & grad students and others. We will gather online with people from around the world – with our speaker originating from Swarthmore, PA. Our presenter, who starts at 9:30am, for this event is Dr. Catherine Crouch who together with her husband, Andy Crouch, have lived out their callings in the academy and at home. Dr. Crouch is professor of Physics with a focus on membrane interactions, nanoparticle physics, and physics education. Her husband Andy’s recent book, The Tech-Wise Family: Everyday Steps for Putting Technology in Its Proper Place, touches on some of the themes she will explore in this ninety minute webinar as she shares practices they have used in their family and their work. This webinar will both challenge and encourage you in your own walk with God.
There are two options for participating.
A 1-Hour Webinar for Christian Faculty and Graduate Students
Nov 14, 2019, 12-1pm